Redskins Breakdown: Defense saves the day in win vs. Cardinals

Running Game: Samaje Perine, offensive line can’t get much going

One of the biggest storylines leading up to this game was the absence of Trent Williams. The Redskins top offensive lineman has been dealing with a knee injury all season long that has caused him to be in and out of the lineup. This week, he was forced to sit out and the Redskins were expected to miss him.

While Ty Nsekhe held up well on the outside, the interior of the line suffered as a result. Arie Kouandjio had to come in and play left guard and he struggled to open up running lanes in the middle of the defense. Though center Chase Roullier was making his return, Kouandjio’s poor play did enough to offset the performance of the interior line and make it mediocre.

As a result of this, Samaje Perine had a really tough time getting going. The Cardinals have a very tough run defense, so it was always going to be very hard for Perine to have a big game. But in the first half, he was stonewalled repeatedly. He was able to rip off some longer runs in the second half, but too frequently he was hit behind the line of scrimmage and had to fight just to avoid negative yardage. If the Redskins line was healthy, he would have been in better shape. Still, a big outing was always unlikely.

At the end of the day, Perine was only able to get 37 yards on 14 carries. He’ll have two more chances to prove that he is capable of being the starter for the 2018 season. At the worst, he looks like a very good backup runner who would be able to excel running outside zone concepts.